The joys of bilingualism

He says, 'the time has stopped'.

Both Shakespeare's phrase and its Hungarian translation point to the same idea, but differently and poignantly, namely that, 'something is rotten in the state of Denmark'.

These different words increase my understanding of what Shakespeare tries to dramatize by his phrase.

And then my understanding is further enhanced as I discover the different emphasis in Shakespeare's original words and in the translator's own take on Shakespeare's meaning.

This is the whole passage:

'The timeisoutofjoint:O cursed spite

That ever (my emphasis) I was born to set it right!'

But the translator leaves out the 'ever' in his Hungarian version of this passage.

Shakespeare's original put the emphasis in Hamlet's despair on 'ever' being born,

(which he further expresses in his 'to be or not to be' soliloquy), whereas the Hungarian translator draws our attention to another real aspect of Hamlet's despair: that it is 'his' misfortune, that is 'I', who is saddled with the responsibility of overcoming the rot in Denmark.

Another inestimable gift I gratefully receive from my bilingualism is that with the help of international you tube I can instantly time travel and re-experience some of my peak experiences in my youth in Hungary.

For example, in 1963, at the age of 16, just one year before defecting to Australia, I was blown away with seeing live, the Hungarian Operetta Theatre's performance of Kálmán's brilliant operetta 'Csárdáskirálynõ': 'The Queen of Csárdás'.